1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for transferring articles from one area to another and more particularly to a method and apparatus for palletizing articles such as, for example, beverage cans or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In todays society of highly automated mass production, the importance of minimizing production time and expensive down time is readily apparent. This is especially true, for example, in the high speed automated manufacturing of articles such as beverage containers. In this regard, large sums of money have heretofore been expended in the research and development of more efficient, economical and rapid ways of producing such articles, thereby resulting in highly complex machinery and controls for the automation thereof.
While the aforedescribed machinery so developed has been quite successful for the use intended, that is, for mass producing beverage containers in a rapid and economical fashion, it has been found, heretofore, that many improvements can be made to the method and machinery utilized in handling finished products. Today, for example, many of the known palletizers which are utilized in finished product handling, especially the handling of cylindrical containers such as beverage cans or the like, have been found not to be completely satisfactory in keeping pace with the production machinery used in conjunction therewith. Many of these palletizers do not, for example, have the capability of overlapping the various successive steps required in transferring layered groups of containers from a finished product point and ultimately onto an awaiting pallet. Rather, in many cases, complete transfer of one layer of containers must be carried out before transfer of a following layer can be initiated. This, of course, can slow down the overall production and handling process, thereby diluting many of the advantages in rapidity of the manufacturing apparatus.